First Game Theory
by M. Marchand
Summary: Don's first baseball game with the FBI team. Identity Crisis PostEp


Acknowledgments:  
Omi as always  
To Mel for coming up with the bunny for this when I needed it

Disclaimers:  
"A vague disclaimer is nobody's friend" - Willow, Buffy the Vampire Slayer  
I do not own the characters Don, Charlie, Alan or Terry nor do I have  
any rights to anything related to the TV show Numb3rs. I plead fair use  
and claim only my own writing and characters.

* * *

"So... Game Theory..." Charlie stood behind the dugout and talked to Don through the chain link fence.

Don gave him an annoyed look and turned back to the baseball diamond where David Sinclair was on first base and Chavez was at the plate.

"Charlie, I'm at bat in a couple minutes so can we not do this right now?"

"Do what?"

"The intellectual pep talk! You're going to tell me that according to Game Theory I have to risk more to get more, right? Then you're going to give me some big long statistical analysis that tells me why I shouldn't swing at low and outside pitches."

Chavez hit a solid single to left field and now there were two men on base. Don took a moment to cheer on his FBI teammates. It was their first game of the season and Don was anxious to show the DA's office that the FBI was a team to be taken seriously this year. He was also anxious because this was his first real game since he'd quit playing baseball professionally a decade ago.

Miller moved from on deck to the plate and Don grabbed his bat to head out of the dugout.

"That's not what I was going to say," Charlie raised his voice to get Don's attention before he left.

Don stopped and came back to Charlie. "Oh, really?"

"I was going to say," Charlie paused for a second. "Go out there and swing at whatever feels good to you."

Don smiled. "Thanks, buddy."

Charlie grinned back. "Now, go get 'em!"

Don jogged out of the dugout and started loosening up as Miller let several pitches pass him by. He finally found one he liked and managed another single. Bases loaded.

Charlie swelled with pride as the announcer called out Don's name as the next batter. He settled back into his seat next to Terry, almost deafened by her loud cheers.

"Terry, I think the Angels can hear you all the way in Anaheim."

Terry didn't miss a beat. "So I have to try a little harder for the Yankees to hear me, is that it?" She let out another ear-piercing yell; her voice bolstered by the rest of the raucous FBI team fans in the stands behind them.

Charlie turned his head away but his father, sitting on the other side of him, was just as loud.

"Home run, Donny! Home run! You can do it!"

Don took his place at the plate and Charlie tried not to hold his breath. Over ten years had passed since Don played minor league baseball but Charlie never forgot the nervous anticipation he felt every time Don readied himself for the first pitch.

"Strike One!" Low and outside. Don had let it pass him by and Charlie was glad even if it did cost him a strike.

"Ball One!" Another low and outside, but this time too far outside.

"Come on, come on..." Don had figured out by now that some scout sneaking into their team practices had picked up on his problem with low and outside pitches. However, he knew whoever it was hadn't seen him at the batting cages working on a solution to that problem.

The pitcher overcompensated on his next throw. It was low but not too far outside, just what Don was hoping for. He could work with this pitch. His time in the batting cages had proven it to him.

Crack! The bat connected with a resounding smack and the ball flew up in the air. The crowd leapt to their feet to watch how far the ball would go.

Don just stood at home plate. He didn't have to run. He knew. He felt it when he connected with the pitch.

The ball flew out of sight over the fence as the crowd screamed.

"It's a bases loaded home run for number 23, Don Eppes!" the announcer yelled over the speakers.

Don tossed his bat aside and started his jog around the bases.

Charlie, Terry, and Alan were jumping up and down and screaming at the top of their lungs.

David crossed the plate first and high-fived his waiting teammates. Chavez was next to tap home plate and he pumped his fist in the air, yelling, "Yes!"

Miller crossed over home plate to much celebration and he nodded to David and Chavez, grinning like mad.

As Don came around third base, he took off his cap and held it out to the crowd in a salute. He could see Charlie, Terry and his father going crazy in the stands and it made all the hard work and training worthwhile.

'Why did I ever give this up?' Don thought to himself, deliriously happy.

He almost couldn't see home plate when his jog ended. The entire FBI team was crowded around it waiting for him. He made sure he tapped it quickly to make the runs official before his teammates lifted him up in the air.

"And the score is FBI: 4 and District Attorney's Office: Zero!"

"Yeah!" Don exclaimed. "Got to love those numbers!"


End file.
